Romero, despite all the warnings, all his plans, felt nothing but shock. "Wait," he said, "don't you mean a year ago that I wasn't working? Because these last seven months I've been killing myself! I've been killing myself to make Quake!" "No," Carmack said, "you're not doing your work! You're not living up to your responsibilities. You're hurting the project. You're hurting the company. You've been poisonous to the company, and your contribution has been negative over the past couple years. You needed to do better and you didn't. Now you need to go! Here's a resignation and here's a termination! You're going to resign now!" I don't want to be here, Adrian thought, staring more deeply into the carpet, I don't want to be here, I don't want to be here. Despite the fact that both Carmack and Romero were each somewhat justified, he knew there was no way out. But then everything stopped. Romero fell quiet. Deep inside him, the bit began to flip, as it had so many times in his life: he would not let this get him down just like he hadn't let anything else - his father, his stepfather, his own broken families, and now his own broken company. I was making plans to go start a company with Tom anyway, he reminded himself. I guess I'll go now. He wasn't bowing out from a fight, he was starting his new life. Romero signed the form, handed it to Carmack, and headed out.